Today, I woke up early to the sound of vigorous singing and looked out the window:
House Wren Troglodytes aedon <–singing male and begging young
Rose-breasted Grosbeak Pheucticus ludovicianus <–juvenile
Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilocus colubris

Every time I see a Monk Parakeet I end up losing my biking gloves on the same trip. I like Monk Parakeets, but dammit, I don’t like them that much. My gloves are nice, and this last pair was nearly new. (Speaking of nearly new, I assume that a small nest = a new nest? The nest I observed about a block from Jordan’s Lobster Dock was relatively tiny.)

My trip to Breezy Point with started out frustrating. Too hot, too far, too much traffic. When I ran over an ugly shard of metal and got a flat tire right between Coney Island and Sheepshead Bay, I was about ready to pack it in. But sitting for almost half an hour in a nice little Sheepshead Bay parklet, looking at gulls and getting accosted by Baptists with tracts while Todd ran up to a bike store and got a new tube, reanimated me in a big way. And it turned out to be totally worth it, what with finally seeing Piping Plovers and a solitary Willet, to say nothing of the American Oystercatcher that I saw feeding its half-grown young one and the abundant Black Skimmers and Common Terns. Todd was the first to see the Plovers, and asked me if I was looking for the little bird that looked like it was going over the sand on wheels, which upon observation is exactly what it does look like.

American Bird Conservancy has called on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to institute a new system of pre-construction risk assessment and bird and bat mortality data collection in connection with hundreds of thousands of bird (and bat) deaths being caused by wind turbines.

In an effort that is ultimately expected to benefit several imperiled bird species, including the Royal Cinclodes and the White-browed Tit-Spinetail, more than 900 people from four central Peruvian communities came together recently in a tree planting festival that resulted in 57,100 saplings being planted in a single day, bringing the total number of trees […]